About a month ago I put an article on my Facebook page that scientists were predicting a cold snowy winter for the Northeast. Right now we have had a few days of what we consider beautiful weather for this time of year - it's in the 50's during the day. Today will be our last. Included in that obscure article was a warning about more extreme weather. Hurricane Sandy drove that point home barely two weeks later.
It used to be that scientists who predicted gloom and doom if we did not change our ways and stop abusing the planet were labeled as nuts. Now the nuts are the people who refuse to believe that we have indeed caused our own destiny by ignoring man made changes to the climate. The biggest nuts seem to reside in North Carolina who voted to no longer allow scientists to measure the rising levels of the ocean. Talk about burying your head in the sand. When the ocean overtakes the sand on the beach, it might be a good time to pull your heads out, if only just to save yourself.
I participated in this country's first earth day. Back then the goal was to clean up the trash, clean up the rivers and oceans and stop air pollution. I must say, those efforts worked. Our family has had a summer home on a small island in Casco Bay, Maine for generations. When I was a kid, the trash went in the ocean, the sewage went in the ocean and glass went in the ocean. The water was filthy. Some type of debris was always floating by, generally something plastic. The only upside to these practices that broken glass eventually turned up on rocky shorelines as "sea glass", which were different colored pieces of glass that had been tossed around in the ocean so much that they became beautiful small, smooth little artifacts that you collect, take home and put them in a jar as a display. You can't find sea glass anymore. It is a thing of the past.
But through the years things changed. Island people had to install septic tanks. They encouraged recycling. They even got a garbage truck with pickup once a week. The island is so small that you don't really have to have the trash out early in the morning, the truck drives by several times a day and if you missed after the first three runs, chances are you could catch in the next three runs. The only thing that can go into the ocean is your leftovers from dinner. Seagulls love leftovers.
It's going to get cold again. Last year we moaned and groaned about losing power because of a freak snowstorm at Halloween. It was cold, roads were often impassable, and we waited in long lines for gas. I look back now and think we got off easy. No one's house blew away or floated away. It was uncomfortable. I argued with the hospital about discharging my father to go home to a cold, dark house. It seemed like a freak of nature. What followed was a snow less, warm winter. Nights were chilly but not bone freezing cold. In comparison, the winter of 2010-2011 was one of the snowiest we ever had. You had to creep forward to see around a corner. The snow was piled so high in front of my home, I didn't see the road again until March. Roofs collapsed from the weight of all the snow. The sun would come out, soften it up ever so slightly and then it would freeze at night. All the piles of snow turned into ice. It was hard to walk the dogs; the snow was too deep even for my large golden retrievers. Two winters of record breakers is enough to convince me something is up.
Tornadoes in New England are not unheard of, but they do happen. They did happen. How many times have we watched F5 tornadoes destroy populated areas. It's no longer just a field in Kansas. They kill people. Last summer we had hurricane Irene. While she blew away the shores of Long Island Sound and cut power to millions in Connecticut, the rains moved north and flooded Vermont. When was the last time a hurricane decimated Vermont? How many states must burn all summer before we admit "yeah, we had something to do with that." Is 100 plus degree weather going to become the norm for our summers?
When the arctic ice melts, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand it makes the oceans larger and the land masses smaller. As the oceans encroach on the land, the water absorbs heat from the sun. The warmer the water, the more that water feeds low pressure systems that become hurricanes, nor'easters and typhoons. Hot air over land heats up the surface that feeds the clouds of severe thunderstorms, hail storms and tornadoes.
Every weatherman tells you to prepare a storm kit. That's the best free advice you will ever get. Think about the worst thing that could happen, the very worst, and prepare. You don't have a basement? Build a storm cellar. You live in a cold region? You might want to invest in a generator. Buy batteries when they are on sale, not the day before you need them. Get flash lights or battery run lanterns. Invest in a radio. Keep gas in your car. And last of all, don't be surprised by what nature throws at you. When you're sitting in the dark with nothing to do, it's a good time to contemplate what you can do calm nature down.
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